Sentenced to be Seen: Reinventing the Power Imbalance of Interior Surveillance Through Digital Voyeurism

Victoria Wohlforth // Adviser: Dee Nicholas

Sentenced to be Seen: Reinventing the Power Imbalance of Interior Surveillance Through Digital Voyeurism

This thesis investigates the role of interior design as a spatial storyteller, focusing on how environments shape perception, identity, and power dynamics. Drawing on examples from set design, entertainment architecture, and prison systems, it explores how design can both invite and restrict human experience. Central to this investigation is the Panopticon and its evolution from a tool of psychological control to a pervasive force in today’s digital surveillance culture. Using Eastern State Penitentiary as my intended site, the project proposes a conceptual reimagining of the prison as a participatory nightclub experience. Here, surveillance is transformed into play, encouraging guests to explore the tension between autonomy and observation. By reframing a site of isolation through the lens of collective nostalgia, evoking the intimacy and energy of house parties, the design challenges institutional narratives of control instead offering a space for reconnection, identity reclamation, and sensory liberation.